“She said that Olive is missing.”
He made a face. “Missing?”
I nodded. “We’re going to talk more when she gets here, but she said that she doesn’t know if Olive went to the police or not because she hasn’t been able to get in touch with her since Monday. When she went to the Cheer House to see her in person, no one answered the door even though all the cars were there. Kim thinks the cheerleaders might’ve done something to her.”
His jaw dropped. He ran his hand down his face. “Shit.”
“I know. I’m worried.”
“Come here,” he whispered, pulling me into him. “Don’t stress yet. When Kim gets here, get more information and then we can go from there.”
“There’s something I didn’t tell you because I didn’t think it was a relevant detail. But now that Olive is missing, I feel like you’re the only one I can tell,” I blurted out in a rush.
“What is it?”
“The thing that the PROs are really mad about is their stolen notebook. It has incriminating information about all of them in it and they know that the cheerleaders stole it. Aiden told me about it, but he didn’t tell the police about it. He said he’s never seen it, but he heard them talk about it and he didn’t want to be involved with anything in that thing because it’s bad. Blackmail level bad.”
“So, it’s valuable. Which means they would have motive to do whatever they could do to try to get it back,” he surmised, running his hand down his face again. “Are you sure they know you didn’t have anything to do with that?”
I nodded. “Aiden assured me they knew I didn’t have anything to do with it.”
“Good. That’s good.”
A thought occurred to me suddenly. “But if the cheerleaders have this blackmail information on them, what if the PROs say whatever the cheerleaders want them to say?” My timer went off on my phone and I forced myself to smile. “I’m sorry. This can wait. You need to finish your work and I need to finish my hair.”
“You’re not going down behind this,” he assured me. “I swear to God I will do any and everything I can to make sure you’re good.”
I pressed my lips against his. “Thank you.”
With a smile, I went to the bathroom and as soon as I closed the door, I broke down and cried silently. When I got myself and my hair together, I got dressed and ate breakfast. I was just finishing up my bowl of cereal when Kim knocked on the door.
“Hey,” I greeted her.
“Terminated,” she returned, her eyes wide.
I threw my hands up. “I know!”
I led her to the couch and offered her a bottle of water.
We spent a solid fifteen minutes recapping the email and what that meant for our futures. Kim didn’t have the same concerns as I did because she wasn’t on a scholarship. But she was planning to apply for a graduate school and the misconduct denotation on her file wasn’t a good look.
“Olive might show up at the meeting,” I stated, changing the subject.
A grim look came over Kim’s face. “I hope so, but I was trying not to think about it because I didn’t want to get my hopes up.”
I was walking to the trashcan to throw the empty bottles away when Jay emerged from the back of the apartment. He spoke to Kim and then he turned to me. When our eyes locked, I felt my heart thump a little harder.
“Call me when you leave the meeting and let me know what happens,” he demanded softly, reaching out for my hand.
I gave it to him and squeezed it back. “I will.”
Instead of letting me go, he pulled me into him and hugged me. “Be careful,” he whispered. “I don’t know what the fuck is going on, but if anything looks off at that meeting, call me and leave.”
Closing my eyes and allowing myself to be soothed by his presence, I exhaled. “I will.”
Even though I couldn’t see Kim, I knew she was watching us. I looked up at him and I wanted to kiss him. I didn’t know what he was thinking or how he felt about it, so I didn’t make a move.
“I have to go, but if you need anything. Call me.” He licked his lips and it seemed like he considered kissing me, but he didn’t make a move either.
“Okay.”
We just stared at each other for a beat and then he leaned down and covered my mouth with his with the briefest of kisses. It was far too swift for my liking. Grabbing his shirt, I pushed up on my toes and kissed him again for longer. When we parted, there was a pleasantly surprised look on his face.
“Have a good day,” he murmured.
“Have a good day,” I returned.
He walked out the apartment and the door had barely shut behind him.
“What was that?” Kim screeched, leaping to her feet.
“That was me saying goodbye to my boyfriend.”
She reeled dramatically, waving her arms as if a gust of wind pushed her back. “What?”
I giggled. “We should head to the meeting.”
“Yeah, but you need to tell me when you and James became a thing! You were just denying it a few days ago.”
“I said we didn’t know what we were because we didn’t. But last night, we realized that there was something here.”
“You know I love it,” she said as she grabbed her handbag. “I’ve been rooting for you two since we met freshman year. But…”
I eyed her. “What?”
“Are you two going to the wake tomorrow? And the funeral Saturday?” she wondered.
“Yes…” I said slowly.
“I think you
